Help me. 2009 Mac book pro keeps saying start up disk full..

[apple fan]

I have a 2009 Mac bookpro and I have 4,000 songs and about 5,000 pics.. Should that fill the start up disk.?? Don't know much.. Thank you

 

[AcesHigh87]

I get the feeling there are other things on your drive that are filling it more than pictures and music. Have you looked at the bottom of your finder window? I should say how much space your HDD has left on it. If that number is not low it's actually an error. If it is then you're HDD is actually filled and you need to look into getting rid of stuff or moving it to an external HDD.

 

[MacRy]

If you have an iPad or iPhone check iTunes for old backups and delete them. I had the same issue with my iBook and it turned out it was old backups of my iPhone, my wife's and my iPad. I got about 40Gb back.

 

[yojitani]

Or if you have techtool pro running! Get a program like WhatSize? to see what's eating your HD space.

 

[GGJstudios]

If you're wondering what "Other" category in the Lion storage tab is about, this may help explain:

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating my space​

For space issues not explained by the above, there are a few things you can try, some of which may or may not apply:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.
• For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion, space may being consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.
  OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
• Search with Finder to see if the space is being consumed by a very large file or several large files. Adjust the 50GB in the illustration to whatever size you deem appropriate.
  
  
• Use OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report, Disk Inventory X, DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective to see how space is being used on your drive. Some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several.
• Check your drive with Disk Utility: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
• Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

Here are a few resolutions found by others with the same question:

• Encrypted drive
• Time Machine backup files and needed disk repair
• App filling log file
• App or file was 89GB
• Drive needed to be re-indexed
• Time Machine backup file
• Large app cache file
• Garageband files and video podcasts
• Oversized email being duplicated
• Another email issue

 

[QuarterSwede]

If you're wondering what "Other" category in the Lion storage tab is about, this may help explain:

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating my space​

For space issues not explained by the above, there are a few things you can try, some of which may or may not apply:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.
• For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion, space may being consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.
  OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
• Search with Finder to see if the space is being consumed by a very large file or several large files. Adjust the 50GB in the illustration to whatever size you deem appropriate.
  
  
• Use OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report, Disk Inventory X, DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective to see how space is being used on your drive. Some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several.
• Check your drive with Disk Utility: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
• Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

Here are a few resolutions found by others with the same question:

• Encrypted drive
• Time Machine backup files and needed disk repair
• App filling log file
• App or file was 89GB
• Drive needed to be re-indexed
• Time Machine backup file
• Large app cache file
• Garageband files and video podcasts
• Oversized email being duplicated
• Another email issue

I'll summarize this ^

Download DaisyDisk. It'll easily show you what's eating your space.

 

[GGJstudios]

I'll summarize this ^

Download DaisyDisk. It'll easily show you what's eating your space.

As was stated, "some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several." DaisyDisk may find things that other apps can't in some situations, and other apps may find more than DaisyDisk in other situations. I haven't found any of these apps to be the best in every situation.

 

[QuarterSwede]

As was stated, "some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several." DaisyDisk may find things that other apps can't in some situations, and other apps may find more than DaisyDisk in other situations.

My point was that you could've given the OP info overload. Daisy Disk will do the job and quickly. It's a favorite among this type of app for a reason.

No offense was intended.

 

[GGJstudios]

No offense was intended.

None taken!

 

[MacRy]

Well it was nice to be thanked and have an update on whether we solved the OP's problem wasn't it. Makes it all worthwhile posting doesn't it

 

[GGJstudios]

Well it was nice to be thanked and have an update on whether we solved the OP's problem wasn't it. Makes it all worthwhile posting doesn't it

If you expect to be thanked or to get feedback on whether proposed solutions resolved a poster's issue, you're going to be disappointed most of the time, as it doesn't happen too often.

 

[MacRy]

If you expect to be thanked or to get feedback on whether proposed solutions resolved a poster's issue, you're going to be disappointed most of the time, as it doesn't happen too often.

Yeah I realise that. I was just feeling grumpy and unloved yesterday It's a pity that common courtesy is a foreign concept on the Internet though isn't it.

Having been a member here for 8 years it's kind of sad to see how the forums have become since the massive surge in popularity of Apple. Oh well....

 

[GGJstudios]

Yeah I realise that. I was just feeling grumpy and unloved yesterday It's a pity that common courtesy is a foreign concept on the Internet though isn't it.

Having been a member here for 8 years it's kind of sad to see how the forums have become since the massive surge in popularity of Apple. Oh well....

I know what you mean. Rather than thanks, you're just as likely to get criticized when offering help. But that's why they pay us the big bucks, right?

 

[MacRy]

I know what you mean. Rather than thanks, you're just as likely to get criticized when offering help. But that's why they pay us the big bucks, right?

Wait.....what? We get paid? Did I miss a meeting?